Lord Peter Wimsey - Five Red Herrings (1976)

Lord Peter Wimsey (Ian Carmichael) and his manservant, Bunter (Glyn Houston), take a holiday in Scotland, but instead of spending his time fishing and playing the odd round of golf, Wimsey soon finds himself traipsing through the bracken in pursuit of a killer. It's a thankless task, really, considering that no one in town is sorry the victim is dead; one villager describes him as "a bitterly unpopular man... with a permanent grudge against everybody." Six of the dead man's fellow artists have recently argued with him, and none has a satisfactory alibi. With the invaluable aid of Bunter--who somehow manages to do a considerable amount of sleuthing, win the heart of a local chambermaid, and still prepare a full dinner before his master's return each day--Wimsey must determine which five are red herrings, and which one is guilty. Two of the four one-hour episodes end in cliffhangers (one literally) that are guaranteed to have viewers popping in the next tape as soon as they can slide it out of the box. Carmichael easily slips from charming to cunning as the witty and quick-witted Wimsey; unfortunately, while both the acting and scenery are a pleasure to watch, the solution is ultimately disappointing--an anti-climactic conclusion to an otherwise enjoyable holiday in the world of Dorothy L. Sayers's creation. --Larisa Lomacky Moore Amazon.com

Scotland in the 1930's

Dorothy Sayers wrote Five Red Herrings to satisfy the desires of her Scottish friends that she set one of her detective stories in Scotland. Thirty years after filming, Ian Carmichael is still incomparable as Lord Peter Wimsey, and the cast provides excellent support. Sayers did her usual fine job with the story, but, critics agree, it is the weakest of her detective novels. Still, she was one of the finest writers of the 20th century, and the only writer of detective stories to get a mention in Jacques Barzun's Five Hundred Years of Western Civilization! September 16, 2008

Unusual Older Crime-Series from Britain

Great series, wonderful acting, all without the over-production of today's analogous works. Lord Peter Wimsey, a British crime classic, has enriched our DVD library. The seller expedited it to us in professional fashion, with great communication. We recommend them. March 12, 2008

Entertaining

Five Red Herrings was good but English was difficult to understand a fair amount of time. Liked the part of Lord Peter Wimsey. October 27, 2007

Five Red herrings Lord Peter Wimsey

I was extremely disappointed by the quality of the DVD - it was a copy of a copy of a copy - grainy and in black and white. I wouldn't have cared except I played the part of Gilda in the series and wanted my grand children to see what their granny looked like at 25 years! The series I might add was made up in Scotland in full colour. I will nver buy from Amazon again. July 17, 2007

Well done Lord Peter Wimsey

Dorothy L. Sayers writes many non-fiction books however among her best is the Lord Peter Wimsey series. I came to this series sort of though the back door. My first taste was the BBC productions with Petherbridge as Lord Peter that can now be found on DVD ASIN: B000062XDX. So I read all of Dorothy's books containing the relationship of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Now it is time to go through the whole series.

Now I watched the one I missed on PBS. The first thing I notices was that Ian Carmichael talks much faster than Petherbridge. And all the people seem older. Of course Peter was supposed to be older when he met Harriet.

Campbell a local artist is being obnoxious and makes everybody's life miserable. Let's face it Campbell needs killing. You guessed it; he seems to have had an accident while painting. Lord Peter deduces that the so called accident could only be staged by another painter. Yep there are six suspects and more if it is not a painter. So that leaves "Five Red Herrings"

As with all Sayers' stories nothing is simple there are overlapping plots and foolish deeds, as if Peter can not figure them out. On the side we learn a little about Scottish society and see the landscape.

They took the time to put just about everything relevant from the book in to this production. There were a few exceptions but not worth bothering about. The production is complete enough that you do not have to read the book. Yet you will want to for the differences and more dialogs.

I am glad they finally made a DVD version. However the one I watched was the tape. This item is worth purchasing as you will want to replay it often.
April 5, 2006

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